The trip was unprecedented, showcasing goodwill between two countries that share a border. But it materialized thanks to a connection made in the hilly woodlands of southern Maine at Camp Winona, where Sargent, who then served as a lacrosse and kayaking instructor in 2004, met Javi Halffter, a young boy from Mexico just learning to play lacrosse.
Halffter lived thousands of miles away, but was familiar with the area before his family sent him to Camp Winona. He made regular visits to Boston in 1998 as his younger sister, Alejandra, was treated for cancer at Boston Children’s Hospital, and his family often drove to parts of New England for extended vacations. When his friends decided to attend camps in America, Halffter followed suit. He spent seven summers at Camp Winona and had Sargent as a counselor for three of them.
“I wasn’t very good, but I had fun with it,” Halffter said of his skills at that time.
The two kept in touch through Halffter’s high school career at Choate Rosemary Hall (Conn.). Halffter became a strong lacrosse player before heading back to Mexico for college, where he played at Universidad Iberoamericana — one of five schools with lacrosse in Mexico City.
He continued to watch the expansion of the Mexican lacrosse movement, launched by Jose Luis Espinosa, as the 2014 FIL World Championships approached. With his American lacrosse background, Halffter made the national team and headed to Denver. When he and Sargent reunited again in Colorado, they discussed a potential matchup between Montana and Mexico.
“It would be fun to play some day,” Sargent said, talking of an event he hoped for, but couldn’t envision.